Martin received a Bachelors Degree from University College London in 1963. He also attended Corpus Christi College and Christ's College in Cambridge. While he was attending college, Martin worked as a librarian, bibliographer, and cataloguer. After earning a Ph.D., he began to lecture on Egyptology at University College in London.
Dr. Martin has spent a lot of time in the field at various sites in Egypt. He has concentrated his efforts in the Valley of the Kings, Saqqara, and el-Amarna. He is credited for discovering a rather interesting tomb in Saqqara; the tomb that Horemheb built for himself before he became pharaoh. At the time of its construction, Horemheb was employed as a military advisor to Tutankhamen. Also at Saqqara, Martin discovered the tomb of Mava, who worked for Tutankhamen as treasurer. At el-Amarna, Martin continued the work of the Egypt Exploration Society, whose examination of the Royal Tomb had to be abandoned due to political strife preceding WWII. The Royal Tomb at el-Armarna is in very poor condition due to looting and previous “explorations”. Martin spent a lot of time cataloging artifacts, recovering missing pieces, and exposing fake artifacts wrongly attributed to this site.
Geoffrey Martin has published a lot about his work in Egypt, including a children's book designed to stir interest in the subject. Martin has been Director of the Egypt Exploration Society. He is currently Professor Emeritus at University College London.
References:
Egypt: The Egyptologists http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/egyptologists.htm
Aldred, Cyril (1988) Akhenaten: King of Egypt. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London
Who's Who: 154th Annual Edition. A&C Black, London. 2002.
Written by Joseph Perkins, 2002
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007